A Goal On Yourself, Is Still A Goal

Pique! What the fuck?! How can that shit happen?

After slugging out 92 and a half minutes with Osasuna--the last team to beat Barça at the Camp Nóu-- and coming up with a beautifully executed goal off a strike by current hot boy Seidou Keita, Barça could only come up with a tie after Pique bungled a defensive knock into the net. An own goal. Jesus. There was like twenty seconds of play left before Barça could have packed up their shit and left the stadium with their three points for the win and a four point lead over number twos, Real Madrid. Instead they are one point up and have to ask themselves how the hell they let the victory slip through their fingers.

The good news is that the versatile play of Keita is netting some real results for the team. He scored his fourth point of the week, bringing his tally up to 6. Unfortunately, the secret may be out about this under-trumpeted weapon in the arsenal and he will probably not be able to get by below the radar of opponents any more.

At least Osasuna cannot claim to have beaten the Blaugrana--they only drew, and even that was at the hands of Barça's own error. And Barça are still undefeated and sitting in first place. For now...

Hang your head Pique. Your chiseled good looks and George Michael-esque stubble will not redeem this slip up. Show us your war cry.

Wake me when it's over...

Barça is playing Cultural Leonesa right now. The team looks to be the second stringers. No Ibra, Messi, or Henry. The goalie is the dude with the long hair that's braided. What is weirdest of all, is the absence of Carles Puyol. The ever-mean mugging team captain is not on the field.

They've already scored thanks to a goal from Pedro, but my heart isn't in it. Who are these guys?

They don't play with the hypnotic strategy of my team. They don't carry the weight like the starters.

These guys look intimidated of being burned by the torch their carrying. The flame that said "fuck you" to the Franco regime. Rather than rightful heirs to their team's glory, they seem to be knowingly temporary custodians. That's cool. If anything I would rather hang out with these dudes than the superstars. But to watch the game, I need the drama that is accessible only to the most ego-driven.

On a similar note, Real Madrid got de-pantsed by a small club, 4-nil yesterday. They were without the benefit of their two biggest stars, Ronaldo and Kaka. For any Barça fan, this inspires the sweetest Schadenfreude. Their shoddy performance against a Bad News Bears team is like the proverbial stone being thrown at the brass statue with feet of clay. They spent hundreds of millions in the last summer to create a sensational team that would get spanked by some minimum wage players. Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

At least there was some drama in their defenestration (for the record, a Defenestration takes place when a team loses 4-nil). The fabulous hubris of the team--of Franco's team--made their humiliation exciting.

But Barça is winning this game prosaically, and there seems to be little distinguishing this game from any of the others that have already been played today. Almost surely, they'll win, but it will be without the sneaky master-play that I've come to expect from my side. For a solitary dude nine time-zones away, it doesn't feel much like victory.

Barça and others on a Sunday

First of all, welcome to my blog about football. That is to say, Soccer.

I am living in Los Angeles, Half a world away from Barcelona, yet they are they sun of my football solar system. Though I appreciate the game in general, it is the way that Barça play it that inspires my interest. Hence, most all of my postings will be centered on that team.

The following is some accounting of Sunday 10/25/09 football as it stood at about 2pm Los Angeles time.

Cheers!

At the half, it is 3 nil barcelona over zaragoza

Keita has two ( a header and strike-both assisted by Ibra) and Ibrahimovic had a penalty shot.

I'm thinking that beyond a defenestration, we may be preparing for a clown-car-circus-fire-disaster; in which the opposing team are herded into a clown car, which is set ablaze in the center of a circus. This occurs at a 6-nil score.

Dani Alves and Henry are out with injuries. It seems that they are preserving T. Henry-who has yet to make his presence felt for the side-- to be in good shape for the thanksgiving real madrid showdown.

Of course, earlier Almeria got their asses handed to them by Valencia in a strong second half. I'm always stunned and thrilled when Almeria loses. One bad day in a town can turn you into a hater of their sports clubs forever.

In England, West Ham United came back from a two point deficit in the second half to draw with Arsenal.

Here comes the second half in the camp nou.

jason gaav

p.s.

so now the game has ended, and it has continued in the explosive steel-o of the first half. Keita scores his third after Ibra comes up with another and Leo finally gets rewarded after a ton of attempts to make it through the goal. Zaragoza comes up with one, so the score is 6-1

It is a beautiful game that features the stunning re-setting pattern of Barça. They always bring the ball back to the goal and insure their control while trying to coax the opponents out of their defense.

Chivas is about to play America.

Should have people amped.